An oily sheen of unknown origin discovered along the northeast coast of Shishmaref this summer has returned.

The sheen was first discovered in June on the nearshore icepack by the Shishmaref Village Public Safety Officer. The VPSO reported the yellow liquid smelled like gasoline. That led to cleanup efforts and an investigation by the state Department of Environmental Conservation to determine exactly what the substance was, and where it came from.

Samples of the sheen—and from the community’s fuel tanks—were collected for testing at the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Lab in Connecticut. But the summer cleanup efforts ended with results still pending, and no source for the sheen ever identified.

Now the sheen is back—noticed by a local store owner and the VPSO last week. DEC officials say the unidentified substance again has the strong scent of gasoline. The unknown petroleum product was visible under nearshore ice as early as last Friday.

DEC spokesperson Ashley Adamczak said the agency is sending someone to Shishmaref Thursday to investigate. Adamczak said those samples collected over the summer will come in handy.

“We will be able to do a direct comparison with the substances that were leaching from the shore line last summer, and this event, and compare [them both] to the tank farm,” she said.

Adamczak said locals in Shishmaref have offered input on where the oily substance is coming from, and DEC is following up.

“There’s a lot of people there that have a lot more history of that site than we do,” she said about the investigation just now getting underway. “There’s a couple different floating theories that we have, and we are actually taking a metal detector device out there to do some investigation, to see if there’s any subsurface tanks or buried drums that are in the area.”

Adamczak said the idea of forgotten oil drums or fuel tanks was offered over the summer. “We’ll be working very closely with the people who reported that those might be there to determine those exact locations.”

The Coast Guard has hired waste treatment company Emerald Alaska to perform an on-site assessment.

Last summer’s cleanup resulted in about 30 bags of oily waste from absorbent materials laid out over an area of 1,200 square feet. About 100 gallons of the fuel-like substance were recovered, according to DEC officials on the ground in Shishmaref in July.

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http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/12/18/unknown-oily-sheen-off-shishmaref-coast-returns/feed/2Remains Found Near Brevig Believed To Be Missing Clarence Olannahttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/08/01/remains-found-near-brevig-believed-to-be-missing-clarence-olanna/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/08/01/remains-found-near-brevig-believed-to-be-missing-clarence-olanna/#commentsSat, 02 Aug 2014 00:31:41 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=11009Search and Rescue efforts for a young man in Brevig Mission have ended. ]]>

Search and Rescue efforts for a young man in Brevig Mission have ended.

“Last night Troopers in Nome were notified that a body–the human remains–were found about three miles west of Brevig Mission—it’s an area called Point Jackson. And the remains are believed to be Clarence Olanna,” said Elizabeth Ipsen, a public information officer with the Alaska State Troopers.

Olanna was reported missing by the VPSO office in Brevig Mission on July 15th. Clothes similar to the ones he was last seen wearing were discovered shortly afterwards by the shore.

Following Olanna’s disappearance, search and rescue crews from Brevig Mission were assisted by volunteers from several different communities, coming from as far as Shishmaref to help out. Those volunteers continued working after State Troopers suspended their search on July 21st.

“A trooper is going to fly today to pick up his body, and bring it back to Nome where it’s going to be flown to the State Medical Examiner’s office in Anchorage for an autopsy,” Ipsen said.

Though the investigation is open, the Troopers report there are no “obvious signs of foul play.”

Alaska State Troopers have suspended their participation in the search for a 21-year-old Brevig Mission man who went missing last week—but local searchers say they are continuing to look for Clarence Ray Olanna.

Despite a week of searching that has involved search and rescue teams from Brevig, Teller, and Shishmaref, searchers and others involved in the effort have reported no other sign of Olanna,

The search has involved four-wheelers, boats and an Alaska Army National Guard helicopter.

Brevig Village Public Safety Officer Wilfred Olanna says local search efforts continue and donations are still needed. Information on how to make donations of food, fuel, and other needs to support the search effort.

Donations are being flown to the community free of charge by local air carriers. Organizers ask that all donations be dropped off at Bering Air and Ravn terminals in Nome and be addressed to Brevig Mission Search and Rescue, attention “Brevig VPSO.”

Further information on donations is available by donation organizers Inez Tocktoo and Linda Divers at 907.643.1084 or 907.642.3012.

Searchers in Brevig Mission, Teller, and Shishmaref continued searching through the weekend for a Brevig man missing since early last week.

According to Alaska State Troopers and family members, 21-year-old Clarence Ray Olanna, of Brevig Mission, was last seen Monday July 14, when he did not return home. A member of Olanna’s family says the Brevig Mission search and rescue team began searching that night, finding Olanna’s clothing on the beach near Brevig in the early morning hours of Tuesday.

“Monday night they started looking for him and then Tuesday morning, about midnight or 1 a.m., they found all his clothing you know, what a person would wear, all in one spot right at the surf,” said Brevig Mission Village Public Safety Officer Wilfred Olanna.

VPSO Olanna said local search efforts continued—with Teller search and rescue joining in—and by Tuesday evening the Alaska State Troopers in Nome became involved. Trooper spokesperson Beth Ipsen said Sunday Troopers acted in “more of a managing mode” during the search, providing fuel alongside other fuel donations by local organizations.

By Thursday five boats and two four-wheelers were involved in the search. An Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter was also dispatched for about three hours to search “over land and water surrounding the village,” Troopers reported.

Search teams in Brevig and Teller were joined by the Shishmaref Search and Rescue group on Friday, covering ground from Brevig to Lost River point just northwest of the community. Together, the teams continued the search on foot and via four wheeler and boat through Saturday.

On Sunday Troopers said the search was suspended due to “gusty winds [preventing] boats from searching the waters.” VPSO Olanna said by Sunday the search had covered Port Clarence, the coast, and inside Grantley Harbor. Now the search was turning into areas within the community.

“We’re still having hopes that he’ll show up. Even last year, he was trying to hide around,” VPSO Olanna said, referring to an incident where Clarence Olanna disappeared last year but was ultimately found safely. “He was just found under one of the buildings here in Brevig.”

Now Olanna said searchers are hoping for a similar outcome. “We’ve been searching under all the houses and structures and abandoned buildings, and they’re going to expand the search into the brush and tundra.”

Regional nonprofit Kawerak has started taking donations to support the search teams. Requested donations include food, paper plates and cups, plastic utensils, and food items for sandwiches, coffee and tea, sugar, butter, and meat for making stew.

Donations are being flown to the community free of charge by local air carriers. Organizers ask that all donations be dropped off at Bering Air and Ravn terminals in Nome and be addressed to Brevig Mission Search and Rescue, attention “Brevig VPSO.” Further information on donations is available by donation organizers Inez Tocktoo and Linda Divers at 907.643.1084 or 907.642.3012.

Brevig Mission VPSOs ask that anyone with information on Olanna’s whereabouts to contact them at 907.642.2264. Additionally, information can be passed to the Alaska State Troopers in Nome at 907.443.2835.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/07/20/search-continues-for-missing-brevig-mission-man/feed/3Tanana Tribal Council Votes to Banish Two Indirectly Linked to Trooper Shooting Deathshttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/05/08/tanana-tribal-council-votes-to-banish-two-indirectly-linked-to-trooper-shooting-deaths/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/05/08/tanana-tribal-council-votes-to-banish-two-indirectly-linked-to-trooper-shooting-deaths/#commentsThu, 08 May 2014 20:45:52 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=8882With the alleged gunman arrested and facing murder charges, the Tanana tribal government has voted to banish two men indirectly involved in the shooting deaths of two Alaska State Troopers last week. ]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2014/05/2014-05-08-tanana-bans-kangas.mp3

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the Tanana Tribal Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ask Arvin Kangas and William Walsh to leave the community permanently.

Walsh is a leader of the Athabascan Nation, a small group that rejects the authority of the Alaska state government.

Kangas is the father of 19-year-old Nathanial “Satch” Kangas, who is charged with murder in the deaths of Sgt. Scott Johnson and Trooper Gabe Rich.

The two troopers were in Tanana to arrest Kangas on prior charges of driving without a license and threatening the community’s Village Public Safety Officer with a gun. The arrest led to a struggle inside the Kangas household, where the younger Kangas shot the two Troopers seven times as they tried to arrest his father.

Tanana Tribal Council chairman Curtis Sommer says the council is holding the older men accountable for rhetoric that “more or less brainwashed” Nathanial Kangas.